Puppy Party!

Hope is 1 today. Mom is all gushy with emotion. We celebrated with family this past weekend. For all you family and friends who are out of town, we wanted you to celebrate with us. First, so you can feel like you're there- let me set the scene... The theme is, of course...puppies. We have dog books, dogs, and dog bowls with treats.

We have more dogs, and lots of balloons and streamers...

Okay, it was late, perhaps we got carried away with the streamers. Also, we have a picture of Hope and her favorite dog, Daisy's picture. Here's the table:

and the "cake"...Mom loves homemade sweetness at baby events- and really all children events.

Aunt Hillary: this cupcake is especially for you: yellow with chocolate icing. Miss you!

Finally, for the festivities! "Please begin singing 'Who let the dogs out' and 'You ain't nothin' but a hound dog' in your head. And now for the presents. Hope's family is so generous. She loves every single gift!

lots and lots of gifts....

Special thanks to Susanna who is the most polite 14 month old baby on the planet and let Hope tear into each of her gifts by herself. She waited patiently to investigate the goods for herself.

More lovin' her gifts. I believe this one is a puzzle.

Finally for the cake and ice cream (Neapolitan to stay in the theme of pink, brown and white). Hope's cake was iced with Cool Whip because it's the only sweet she'd ever had before and I wanted to make sure she liked it. She did. This is about as messy as we got, though. She is a very dainty little princess eater.

Notice the curled pinkie finger. This is how she eats EVERYTHING and it takes forever!!

Pause for a photo with mom and Dad...

Then after all the guests leave and the toys are pried out of the boxes: sheesh! it takes a grown man to remove baby toys from the claws of Playschool and Fisher Price boxes! Hope's in her jammies and playing out her sugar high. She had a wonderful day!